Washington, Oregon wildfires scorch nearly 1 million acres

Los Angeles Times

Updated 10:26 pm, Sunday, July 20, 2014

Photo: Stephen Brashear, Getty Images

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The remains of a tree and two homes stand in Pateros, Wash., about 100 miles east of Seattle. The Carlton Complex fire has razed up to 100 homes, forced evacuations and continues to threaten communities.

The remains of a tree and two homes stand in Pateros, Wash., about 100 miles east of Seattle. The Carlton Complex fire has razed up to 100 homes, forced evacuations and continues to threaten communities.

Photo: Stephen Brashear, Getty Images

Washington, Oregon wildfires scorch nearly 1 million acres

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Seattle --

An eruption of lightning-sparked wildfires across the northwestern United States over the past two weeks has scorched almost a million acres of land in Washington and Oregon while threatening thousands of houses and buildings.

Dozens of homes in separate communities were destroyed last week. In Washington, some places were left with nothing but charred foundations and scorched picket fences. As of Sunday, almost 9,000 firefighters and support personnel were battling more than 20 fires scattered across sparsely populated areas in both states.

In total, the fires in Washington and Oregon have incinerated timber and rangeland across more than 1,200 square miles - an area larger than the state of Rhode Island.

Firefighters on Sunday were battling 14 fires in Oregon, including a 369,000-acre blaze that has claimed an area of land larger than the city of Los Angeles just six days after being sparked by a lightning strike.

The Buzzard Complex fire in drought-parched southeastern Oregon is the nation's largest wildfire, but fire officials in the Pacific Northwest were more worried Sunday about the 237,890-acre Carlton Complex fire in Washington.

The Carlton fire is the worst of Washington state's seven fires, having destroyed between 80 and 100 homes, forced road closures and caused power outages in the north-central part of the state. Runaway horses and jittery dogs, some with burned paws, have been found fleeing the fire and seeking safety.

About 1,000 additional homes remain under evacuation threat from the Carlton fire, and 1,400 firefighters and support personnel are battling the blaze, which was started by lightning strikes a week ago.

The northwestern wildfires have put much of eastern Washington and northern Idaho under an air-quality alert as smoke from the fires drifts eastward.

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